Report: Baker understated levels of carcinogen in military base's drinking water

By Michael Pound

Thursday

Feb 25, 2010 at 12:01 AMFeb 25, 2010 at 6:06 PM

The environmental arm of Michael Baker Corp. understated the levels of a known carcinogen found in drinking water at a North Carolina military base in the 1990s and omitted references to the chemical in a subsequent report, according to the Associated Press.

Years after the Marine Corps discovered benzene and other chemicals in the water supply at Camp Lejeune, the Moon Township-based engineering firm was contracted to prepare a remediation plan for the base. In 1992, as officials at the base were preparing for the arrival of the federal Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease at Camp Lejeune, Michael Baker released a draft of its report that had changed references of benzene in the water there from 380 parts per billion to 38 parts per billion.

The AP said the final edition of the report, completed two years later, made no reference to benzene being present in the water at Lejeune.

Benzene is an organic chemical compound which occurs naturally in crude oil and is a common additive in gasoline. The wells at Lejeune were believed to be contaminated by hundreds of thousands of gallons of fuel from a tank farm on the base.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says long-term exposure to benzene can cause anemia and an increased risk of developing cancer. The EPA’s enforceable level of benzene contamination — or, the level at which the EPA considers drinking water to be contaminated — is 5 parts per billion.

The AP said the Marine Corps began testing its wells in the early 1980s, and those tests showed benzene was among the chemicals found in some of the earliest samples. Copies of sample data taken by JTC Environmental Consultants in Rockville, Md., show that benzene was detected in water samples taken on the base as early as December 1984, shortly after the wells were taken off line.

Most the attention on the part of the Marines and consultants hired by the Department of Defense has focused on tricholorethylene, an industrial solvent, and perchloroethylene, a chemical used by dry-cleaners believed to have entered the base’s water supply from an off-post cleaning business. In fact, a 2009 study of Camp Lejeune’s water supply by the National Academy of Sciences doesn’t include benzene in sections about toxicological studies of the chemicals found there.

That report concluded that there was insufficient evidence to show a direct link between water contamination at the base and the medical problems of those who lived there.

Officials at Michael Baker, which in January was awarded a contract to provide environmental services to the Department of the Navy, did not return a call seeking comment; a spokesman referred the AP to the Marine Corps, which said the change in the report was probably an inadvertent omission.

The AP said those who have lived on the base between the late 1950s and the mid-1980s, when the contaminated wells were taken off line, have long complained about a high number of cancer cases. The Department of the Navy announced two weeks ago that it would fund a $1.5 million mortality study to determine whether there is a more direct link between the deaths of those who lived at the post and the toxic water there.

“(The Navy mortality study) is the key to determining whether there were higher mortality rates for active-duty Marines and their families who lived at Camp Lejeune during the years of water contamination,” said U.S. Sen. Kay Hagen of North Carolina, in reaction to the Navy’s announcement. “I am pleased the Navy has listened and now is taking this crucial step. The findings will help bring answers to our Lejeune families who deserve closure on this issue.”

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.